Children's museum
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Children's museums are institutions that provide fun informal learning experiences for children. Traditional art and natural history museums typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits. Exhibits are designed to be viewed from a distance, and are considered to be too valuable for physical contact with the visitor. Children's museums, on the other hand, feature interactive exhibits that are designed to be manipulated by children. The theory behind such exhibits is that, especially in early childhood, activity can be as educational as instruction. Most children's museums are nonprofit organizations, and many are run by volunteers or by very small professional staffs. Over a hundred children's museums have been founded since 1990. [1]
The Association of Children's Museums, or ACM, is the trade association for children's museums, representing museums in 21 countries. The largest children's museum in the US is The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. [1] Many museums that are members of ACM offer reciprocal memberships, allowing members of one museum to visit all the 299 others for free.
The first children's museum in the world was the Brooklyn Children's Museum, founded in 1899 [2]. The next five in order of their founding are:
- The Boston Children's Museum (1913) [3]
- The Detroit Children's Museum (1917) [4]
- The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (1925) [5]
- The Children's Museum (West Hartford, CT) (1927) [6]
- The Duluth Children's Museum (1930) [7].
